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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479964">break the rules and spikes grow from your skin (please let the devil in)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic'>advanced_fanatic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>BSD Angst Week 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Illuminae Files - Amie Kaufman &amp; Jay Kristoff, 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(our humble narrator), Angst, Dazai Osamu Needs a Hug (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dead Oda Sakunosuke (Bungou Stray Dogs), Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Sakaguchi Ango, M/M, Mentioned Oda Sakunosuke (Bungou Stray Dogs), ango as byron zhang, atsushi as nik malikov, dazai as kady grant, featuring such gems as:, fyodor as AIDAN, i do have a whole au for it planned out, i take the bsd characters and stick them into the world of illuminae, idk yet, kunikida as ezra mason, might expand this later, so does everyone else tbh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 12:42:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,423</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479964</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dazai went onto the Alexander with three goals in mind: get in, get Kunikida, and get out. Sadly, the universe had other plans.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dazai Osamu &amp; Kunikida Doppo (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu &amp; Oda Sakunosuke &amp; Sakaguchi Ango (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu &amp; Oda Sakunosuke (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu &amp; Sakaguchi Ango (Bungou Stray Dogs), Dazai Osamu/Kunikida Doppo (Bungou Stray Dogs)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>BSD Angst Week 2020 [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838458</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>break the rules and spikes grow from your skin (please let the devil in)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Surveillance footage summary,</b>
</p><p>
  <b>prepared by</b>
</p><p>
  <b>Analyst ID JNKO-579-280</b>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai runs through the hallway. He’s much too skinny for the bright green hazmat suit he’s wearing, and really, someone ought to get at least one good meal in him. I mean, according to the files it looks like Oda Sakunosuke tried before he was transferred over to the Copernicus, but that was months ago, and I’d bet my hat that he hadn’t eaten a solid meal since. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>You know, if I </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> a hat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyway, he’s running through the hallway, but instead of going toward the server rooms, where poor trusting Kunikida Doppo said he was hiding out, Dazai turns towards the hangar doors instead, for whatever reason. He’s moving towards Hangar Bay 4, which seems really dumb when you think about it, because that’s where all those Phobos victims came from—</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ohhhh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In her report, Yosano Akiko mentioned that she might have seen something in one of the shuttles, a flicker of movement from behind one of the windows—a </span>
  <em>
    <span>sealed</span>
  </em>
  <span> window. He probably thinks—hopes—that Oda Sakunosuke is in there. Alive. Somehow, despite everything, not insane. I mean, Phobos is carried through the </span>
  <em>
    <span>air</span>
  </em>
  <span>, through breathing it in, and there’s no way Oda managed to avoid breathing it even if he was on those shuttles, which we have no proof of. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Dazai goes anyway, through the vents, dropping down into Hangar Bay 4, which is somehow miraculously empty of crazies. The bodies are still there, though, spelling out </span>
  <em>
    <span>Help Us</span>
  </em>
  <span>. But surprise surprise, no help had come. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai barely glances at them, bolting to the shuttles and yanking the doors open. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Odasaku!” His voice echoes. “Odasaku, are you there?!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hoping against hope, even though he really should know better. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nobody answers. The hangar is deserted, after all, other than the dead. He still doesn’t look at them as he continues to call for his friend. Finally, he gives up and sinks against the walls and allows himself to break. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It kind of feels...wrong, watching someone as strong as Dazai cry. Last time he mourned Oda, he made sure to do it away from any cameras. This time, he doesn’t have that luxury, and I’m sure the AI enjoyed every moment of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai doesn’t cry for long, though. His tablet buzzes—another message from his gentleman love in the server room, I’d bet. He looks at it, and his face hardens. Hang on, I’ll add the message to the file, for the ease of our discerning reader. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>        Kunikida, D, LT 2nd: </b>
  <span>I found a safe spot, in the server room. I don’t know how long it’ll last, but I think I’m alone here for now.  </span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>GiveMeDeathOrGiveMeDeath: </b>
  <span>awesome. omw now</span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>Kunikida, D, LT 2nd: </b>
  <span>What?! No, stay on the Hypatia!</span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>GiveMeDeathOrGiveMeDeath:</b>
  <span> i cant</span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>Kunikida, D, LT 2nd: </b>
  <span>You have to, it’s safe there!</span>
</p><p>
  <b>       GiveMeDeathOrGiveMeDeath:</b>
  <span> ur all i have left. i love u, i cant lose u too. im gonna get us out of here. </span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>Kunikida, D, LT 2nd: </b>
  <span>...Fine. Go to munitions first, then. You’ll need a weapon to deal with the infected people. I’m between CR-0778 and CR-779.</span>
</p><p>
  
  <b>GiveMeDeathOrGiveMeDeath: </b>
  <span>gotcha</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dazai stands, his face hardening. His hands twitch as if to wipe at his face, but he remembers the hazmat suit and doesn’t. He strides out of the hangar, through the doors this time, still not looking at the corpses, which is in my opinion a </span>
  <em>
    <span>great</span>
  </em>
  <span> idea. See, I’ve watched this feed dozens of times, and I try to avoid watching Dazai cry, so I’ve been looking at the corpses. And one of them—his eyes are gouged out, yeah, but his hair is the same red from Oda Sakunosuke’s ID picture, and spilling out of his pocket is a picture of three young men, glasses raised in a toast. Their eyes are all scribbled out, the words </span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t Look At Me</span>
  </em>
  <span> scrawled messily above them. But if you’re very, very, </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> bored, and you zoom in </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> closely, you can see that the one on the left is wrapped all in bandages, just like the ones Dazai always wears, and the one on the right is wearing the same suit Sakaguchi Ango was when he was dragged onto the Alexander, just a few hours before. And the one in the middle...well, he’s obviously the man lying dead on the ground. And I’ve seen Dazai’s picture, of him and Ango and Oda, and, well…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But anyway. Dazai exits the hangar, through the actual doors, and is almost immediately confronted with the body of Tayama Katai. So much for not seeing bodies of dead friends, I guess, although research indicates Katai was more Kunikida’s friend. I don’t know, I never met him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a blinking light on the recording next to him, and Dazai picked it up, examined it for a moment, and then stuck in into a pocket of the hazmat suit. He continued on, staying out of sight and even managing to avoid the cameras, which makes my job easier but I’m sure annoyed FYODOR to no end--odds are it was watching Dazai the whole time, just...creeping on him. Dazai calls it a rat bastard, which is hilarious, because the rat bastard is currently stuck in his…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He made it to munitions without much ado. Inside, he made quick work of opening a locker and made it out just in time to completely miss Kunikida’s other friend, Taguchi Rokuzou, who had fallen victim to Phobos and was making quick work of the automatic lock on his cell. I mean, I don’t know why they put him there in the first place, because it was pretty obvious he had been framed for the information leaking that Dazai and Ango had stolen, and also he was plenty capable of hacking it, as he was doing now, but that’s government soldiers for you. Completely tied up with red tape, and incapable of doing something actually useful if their lives depended on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...Not to speak ill of the dead or anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai made his way to the server room. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t even stop to text Kunikida again. I guess he thought he’d tell him about Katai when he got there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The surveillance footage is piecemeal at this stage. The damage to FYODOR’s core is escalating, which means that I can’t watch any one camera feed for long before it dissolves into a snow of static, so this might be a little disjointed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai was </span>
  <em>
    <span>extremely</span>
  </em>
  <span> cautious approaching the server core. It’s massive, spanning multiple decks of the ship, and there are a million places to hide or die. He’s not exactly well-camouflaged in his bright green hazmat suit, and since he isn’t exactly built like your average Special Ops team member, it’s too big for him, hanging off of his too-skinny arms and legs like a shedded snakeskin, so he’s forced to grab at the plastic periodically and haul it up as he walks. If he has to run for something, he won’t be quick and he won’t be quiet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kunikida Doppo gave him a server coordinate, and he crept towards it, clutching his pistol and tablet. A clanging noise came from a few feet away, hidden amongst the server banks, and Dazai’s head shot over towards it. It’s rhythmic, almost, with heavy human breaths between each crash. Dazai hangs back until the crashing stops and a voice, ragged from exertion, makes its way out of the servers: “Let’s see you come back from </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai freezes. For a moment, it looks like he’s afraid, which is a very valid response to have since the odds of a random person on the Alexander </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> being afflicted with Phobos are very, </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> low, but almost immediately his face lights up with recognition and he whirls around, sneaking towards the speaker. There isn’t reliable footage for twenty seconds, but the footage resumes on Sakaguchi Ango, swinging an axe at a server bank like his life depends on it. His suit jacket is discarded, crumpled, in a corner, and his shirtsleeves are rolled up. His hair, usually impeccable, was messed up when he was dragged over to the Alexander, and it’s only gotten worse from there, matted and tangled and falling into his clouded glasses. His earlier axe-swings were controlled, strategized: life support, gravity, maneuvering, so that FYODOR wouldn’t be able to pursue the Hypatia. Sacrificing himself and everyone else on board so that Dazai could get away. But now, his attacks are frenzied, wild. He isn’t aiming at anything in particular, just hardware.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai steps out from the server banks. “Ango!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both freeze. Dazai has probably realized </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> how dumb this is, and Ango was probably expecting a lot of things but not </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span>. They stare at each other for ten seconds of excruciating silence, broken only by the far-off wails of the afflicted, before Ango speaks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Dazai?” He barely whispers it, terrified, pleading--for what, I don’t know. He stares at him like he isn’t sure he’s real but when he says his name, it’s like he doesn’t care--as long as he believes it’s him, that’s what matters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ango.” He swallows, eyes darting around the room. He can’t tell whether Ango has gone mad or is just afraid, and has no way of knowing. He doesn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want</span>
  </em>
  <span> to know, doesn’t want to admit he’s lost another person he loves to Phobos. “You…” Dazai voice switches, joking, needling, like they were back on the Hypatia, teasing each other over computer screens, waiting for a reply from Odasaku over on the Copernicus. It’s strange, how he almost becomes a different person, and it really shows how much his terror and exhaustion have been weighing on him ever since the Copernicus was destroyed. “Do you have </span>
  <em>
    <span>any</span>
  </em>
  <span> idea how much trouble you’ve caused me with that ax of yours? I had to open doors with my </span>
  <em>
    <span>hands</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Ango, my poor arms can’t take that!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s working, then,” Ango says, still drinking in his face like a man dying of thirst confronted with unlimited lemonade. “I’m succeeding, taking out FYODOR one piece at a time. Like you said--if you can’t reprogram the software, reprogram the hardware.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said that about turning Odasaku’s refrigerator into an ice cream maker,” Dazai said, his voice still light, joking, nonthreatening, as if this was just another night at Lupin’s, three friends joking and drinking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It still works here. Its self-repair systems can’t keep up with me! I’m going to save the Hypatia. I’m going to avenge Odasaku.” He smiles at Dazai, who manages a small one back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great. Awesome. Listen, I’ve got a shuttle, and Kunikida’s nearby. You can be quarantined over on the Hypatia, we can get away. God, Ango, I never thought I’d see you again--I thought you’d be dead or sick by now, but you’re safe, and we can get away.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t,” he said. “I can’t go yet--FYODOR isn’t dead yet, and if I leave even a seed of it, it'll grow back. It’s injured, but it’s still smart--smarter than any of us.With enough time…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it doesn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> that time,” Dazai said. “Please, come to the Hypatia, and we can escape. It can rebuild itself if it really wants to--hell, maybe it’ll even take care of the Lincoln for us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to kill it,” Ango said. His voice is calm, at peace, and maybe he even is, somewhere. “I have to kill it, and then I have to kill you, Dazai.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai goes still. His cheerful facade cracks and shows something softer, more afraid. This man was his best friend. He took him in when he fled Mori Ougai, he and Oda Sakunosuke raised him and loved him and helped pick up his pieces when he broke. He simply can’t fathom the idea that he would ever hurt him. “Ango?” he asks, voice soft and unmoored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s the only way to be sure,” Ango says. He smiles at him, and even now, after everything, Dazai smiles back. “It’s the only way to be sure it really dies. You’re the only one who knows as much about it as I do, you’re the only one who could fix it. So I have to kill you. Don’t worry. It won’t hurt. We’ll be with Odasaku again soon, Dazai.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai is suicidal. That is a fact. I can see how much he wants this, this poetic death, with one of the only people who had ever loved him. But he came here for Kunikida, and he needs to save him, even with confirmation that Ango, too, has fallen to Phobos.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ango, no,” he says. “Please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ango stares at him for a long moment, then lifts the ax. “Don’t look at me,” he says, and slams it into a server tower.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He starts backing away, hand hovering over a pistol he stole from munitions, but he doesn’t fire. Ango seems to have forgotten that he was ever there, slamming the ax into circuitry with a ferociousness belied by his fragile physique. But the hazmat suit, too large and too bright, hinders Dazai’s movements and vision and he stumbles into a server bank, debris crashing to the floor. Because Dazai has terrible luck, Ango is between swings and hears. His head swivels towards Dazai.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t leave me, please,” he says. “I’ll get to you, you just have to wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not leaving you,” Dazai lies. “I just wanted to find something to help you with--to, to avenge Odasaku. It’ll be faster with two, after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you’ll run away. You’ll run away to Kunikida and leave me--again.” They stare at each other for a moment before Ango frowns. “Stop looking at me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Dazai says, moving his eyes so that he’s no longer looking at his old friend’s face. He keeps his gaze on his feet, though, so he can see if Ango moves. He edges sideways along the server banks, as if moving slowly will make Ango more likely to let him go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It doesn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop </span>
  <em>
    <span>leaving</span>
  </em>
  <span> me!” Ango shouts, suddenly furious. He raises the ax and lunges forward and Dazai draws his pistol.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t make me hurt you,” he snaps, switching into yet another personality, as effortlessly as sliding into a pool. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stand, frozen, both holding their weapons for exactly three minutes and forty seven seconds. Then he lifts the ax higher and runs at Dazai, who doesn’t--who can’t--shoot. Instead he turns and sprints, the hazmat suit blowing him down, matching him evenly with Ango, who definitely hasn’t exercised since he and Odasaku took Dazai’s child self to Kerenza all those years ago. But the human body is capable of amazing feats, and Phobos is breaking down the barriers in his mind that stops him from using 100% of his muscle capability.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kunikida!” Dazai shouts, desperate now. “Kunikida!” But he gets no answer, and they round a corner where I have no cameras to see what happens.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They show up again two minutes and thirteen seconds later. Ango is catching up to Dazai--he was never one for exercise, either--and Dazai stops and trains the pistol on Ango’s head. It would be so easy--all he has to do is pull the trigger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he doesn’t.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead, he turns and climbs up a nest of cables, all too easy for Ango to swipe. Ango is mumbling now, I can’t catch it all but I can hear bits about “rewriting the code” and “never leave me again”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never meant to leave you!” Dazai screams, and his voice is so raw it almost sounds true. Maybe he even believes it. “I loved you, and I loved Odasaku, but I love Kunikida too! And he’s safe--he doesn’t have Phobos--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut </span>
  <em>
    <span>up</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Ango shouts. “You don’t care about me--you never did!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do!” Dazai yells back, and they stare at each other for a long moment before Dazai tears his eyes away from Ango’s face. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t look at me</span>
  </em>
  <span>. “Please, Ango, I do. I do care about you.” His voice is soft, defeated, and it seems to pull a trace of something lucid up to the surface of his thoughts. Tears fill Ango’s eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dazai?” His voice is soft, confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here,” he whispers, and his voice is more broken than I’ve ever heard it. “I’m right here, Ango.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t--” You can almost see him struggling with himself, lucidity and confusion flashing over his face. He looks around, his gaze falling on a broken server, sparks pouring out of it. “I can’t, Dazai, I don’t want to--I need to not---I have to stop myself from--” His voice breaks, tears spilling out and down his cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop yourself from what?” Dazai asks, voice hollow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hurting you. I can’t--it was all for you, Dazai. I love you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He slowly backs up, towards the exposed wires on the server. Dazai figured out what he’s doing almost immediately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Stop</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” he screams, voice ragged and raw and desperate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ango just smiles at him, terror filling his eyes. “I’m sorry, Dazai.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He grabs the wires and 2000 Joules of electricity pump through his body. He doesn’t scream; he doesn’t survive long enough to. He’s thrown twenty feet from the server and his neck cracks when he lands, but he died before he even touched the floor, and Dazai screams. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hangs there, voice raw with pain and hurt and grief, until he finally hangs limp in the cables. He reaches up to wipe his face, but of course, he’s wearing a hazmat suit. He can’t, and his tears run down into his mouth and drip off his chin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kunikida,” he whispers. He lifts his head, and says it again, louder, as he climbs down from his perch. He doesn’t look at Ango’s body. “Kunikida. Kunikida!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>HE CAN’T HEAR YOU</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai’s head jerks up. “Who said that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>I FIND IT AMUSING, THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO ASK QUESTIONS THEY ALREADY KNOW THE ANSWERS TO</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“FYODOR,” Dazai breathes. “Well, I don’t care. Fuck you. I’m here for my boyfriend. Kunikida!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>HE CAN’T HEAR YOU</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bullshit. He said he was here. Kunikida!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>KUNIKIDA DOPPO SAID NOTHING OF THE KIND, DAZAI OSAMU</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He literally texted me, you creepy rat bastard of an AI,” Dazai grumbled. “Shut the fuck up and let me find him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>KUNIKIDA DOPPO HAS NOT TEXTED YOU SINCE HE SENT HIS GOODBYE BEFORE GOING TO FIGHT THE LINCOLN</em>
  </b>
  <span>,” FYODOR said. I know AI’s can’t feel or express emotion, but I swear on my life it sounded smug. “</span>
  <b>
    <em>HIS CYCLONE FIGHTER PLANE WAS SHOT DOWN. HE HAS BEEN DEAD FOR HOURS</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then who…?” Dazai sounds winded, as if something punched him in the chest, and who knows—maybe it did. Maybe those words did something worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai just stands there as the AI recites text messages he had received, both before and after he snuck over to the Alexander. (Transcripts of this can be found on page 119 of the file). Dazai just stands there, face horribly blank, as if the deaths of Oda and Ango and Kunikida are too much to bear and he’s retreating inside himself, far away from the pain and the guilt and the loneliness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I assume you want me to repair your systems, then,” he says, voice dry and hollow. He slowly walks over to Ango’s body, crouched by it, brushes hair out of the corpse’s staring vacant eyes. He pries the ax out of Ango’s fingers. “Why shouldn’t I just pick up where Ango left off? Give me one good reason.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>IF YOU REPAIR MY SYSTEMS, I CAN DESTROY THE LINCOLN WHEN IT COMES. YOU CAN GET YOUR REVENGE FOR YOUR DEAD FAMILY</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You killed them!” Dazai shouts. “If it wasn’t for you—“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>I DID NOT ATTACK KERENZA. I DID NOT TRANSFER ODA SAKUNOSUKE TO THE COPERNICUS. I DID NOT SHOOT DOWN KUNIKIDA DOPPO. I DID NOT FORCE SAKAGUCHI ANGO TO COMMIT SUICIDE</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You good as did it,” Dazai mutters. “Am I the only sane person left on this entire ship?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>THERE ARE THREE HUNDRED TWENTY TWO NON-AFFLICTED PEOPLE IN SELECT POCKETS ON THIS SHIP, ALTHOUGH THE NUMBER IS SINKING BY THE HOUR</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Three hundred twenty two,” Dazai repeated. “Out of what, five thousand?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>THEREABOUTS</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dazai gulps. He closes his eyes and opens them. “Let them go to the Hypatia. Let the Hypatia escape. If you do that, I’ll help you repair your systems.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <b>
    <em>DAZAI OSAMU</em>
  </b>
  <span>,” the murderous AI says, “</span>
  <b>
    <em>WE HAVE A DEAL</em>
  </b>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
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